Forget your password?Reset it here.
Don't have an account?Register here!You must log in in order to submit a teaching resource, save or e-mail your searches and resources, review a teaching resource, or participate in community discussions.

#R3019

EB 2009 - Writing the Test Question isn't Enough!

To rate items you must be logged in to LifeSciTRC.. Log-in/Register now to the left.

Comment On It!

To add comments, you must log in or register.

Share It!

Save It!

To save the resource to a folder, please log in or register.

Description

Symposium: Writing the Test Question Isn’t Enough!
Presented at Experimental Biology, New Orleans LA
Monday, April 20, 2009, 8:00-10:00 AM
Chairs: Vikki McCleary and Kathy sukalski, Univ. of North Dakota
Well constructed multiple choice items can provide a valid, reliable, and unbiased means to assess student learning. Machine scoring and analysis allows for a rapid turnaround of results and provides information about the patterns of responses to individual items. This symposium focused on the construction of valid, reliable multiple choice questions with an emphasis on those that evaluate the students’ critical thinking ability in the context of specific learning objectives.
The session was introduced by Ellis Bell who considered the process of evaluating student achievement in both content knowledge and critical thinking. Decisions must be made about the types of questions to use (essay, short answer, multiple choice) and timing of the examinations, (midterm and final, block exams). Vikki McCleary focused on multiple choice examinations and reviewed the optimization of stems, answers, and distracters and the evaluation of items according to Bloom’s taxonomy. Charles Hosford outlined the use of standard item analyses to improve test questions. The assessment of student understanding during class lectures using multiple choice questions was addressed by Jeannine Matz. Kenneth Ruit presented lessons learned from constructing and administering multiple choice examinations in an integrated medical curriculum.
Effective testing of knowledge and critical thinking skills. Ellis Bell, U Richmond.
Anatomy of a multiple choice question. Vikki McCleary, UND
Using item analysis to improve test questions. Charles Hosford, UND
Use of multiple choice questions during lecture. Jeannine Matz, Health Care Mercy Col. of Hlth. Sci., Des Moines.
Applying principles and lessons learned in medical education. Kenneth Ruit, UND

This resource could be used by faculty who wish to review key issues around writing multiple choice questions. The PowerPoints could also be used in group faculty development activities related to the construction of multiple choice questions.